Literature Professor David Sandner, Illustration Professor Cliff Cramp and Archivist Patricia Prestinary, from left, helped curate “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The fascination with Mary Shelley’s classic novel, “Frankenstein,” shows no sign of dying out, even after 200 years.

At least two novels exploring the theme of the mad scientist and his monster were released this year. “Pride and Prometheus” is John Kessel’s mashup with Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” and Ahmed Saadawi’s “Frankenstein of Baghdad” sets the search for body parts in a battlefield instead of a graveyard.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternated roles as scientist and creature in the National Theater’s 2011 production of “Frankenstein.” Danny Boyle, who directed the play, also made the film “28 Days Later,” which features incredibly swift-footed examples of the living dead.

“Even if people haven’t read the book, they know the story,” said David Sandner, a Cal State Fullerton professor of English, comparative literature and linguistics and one of three faculty members who spearheaded “Frankenstein Meme,” a campuswide project that celebrates the 200th anniversary of Shelley’s novel and its lasting influence on literature and other art forms.

“It served as a monster metaphor with the mad scientist who creates a creature that then kills him,” Sandner said. “Then people read the book and see something much more complex going on — the idea of what it means to be human and what it means to be a monster.”

“Frankenstein Meme” kicks off Saturday, Oct. 27 with an art show and Special Collections display drawn from the Pollak Library’s science fiction holdings. The exhibit, curated by Sandner and Patricia Prestinary, Special Collections librarian, features art works inspired by the book from students of art professor Cliff Cramp. It is on display in the library’s Atrium Gallery through Dec. 21.

“I really enjoyed the team here because everybody works for the same goal — student exposure to all these genres and themes in literature and arts,” said Cramp, who gave his students four-and-a-half to five weeks to complete their artworks, most of them done with digital painting.

Student artwork is part of “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. Show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jesse Pak’s “Bringing Back The Goods” is one of the pieces in “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Fany Fuentes’ “Tormented” is one of the pieces in “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Archivist Patricia Prestinary, Illustration Professor Cliff Cramp and Literature Professor David Sandner, from left, helped curate “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Literature Professor David Sandner, Illustration Professor Cliff Cramp and Archivist Patricia Prestinary, from left, helped curate “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Some of the pieces wait to be hung for “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

One of the pieces in “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Caitlin Christianson’s “Fallen Angel Nouveau” is one of the pieces in “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

One of the pieces in “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kaitlin Stover’s “Janky Franky Strikes Again” is one of the pieces in “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Professor of Illustration Cliff Cramp helped curate “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Literature Professor David Sandner, Illustration Professor Cliff Cramp and Archivist Patricia Prestinary, from left, helped curate “The Frankenstein Meme” art exhibit at the Pollak Library Atrium Gallery in Fullerton on Friday, October 19, 2018. The program celebrates the enduring influence of Mary Shelley’s world-famous novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The show opens on October 27. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The program, which coincides with a worldwide celebration of the book’s 200th anniversary, runs through Halloween, Oct. 31. Other events include lectures on the book and Shelley, an anniversary celebration put on by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Club, which will launch a new zine with student work, and as part of the international initiative, faculty, staff and other guests will take turns doing 15-minute readings of “Frankenstein” until its completion.

But the heart of the project is The Frankenstein Meme Database, a searchable archive to study the literary influence of Shelley’s classic over the past two centuries. Sandner spent more than two years working with about 200 of his English students on the database, having them read nearly 400 works related to the novel and using keywords — mad scientist/monsters, sympathetic monsters, women writing monsters — to allow searches.

Kessel’s and Saadawi’s books are in the database, along with other novels, short stories, plays and graphic novels that make use of Shelley’s themes and characters. The site also includes student writings in a Frankenstein Meme Journal, a Frankenzine of student creative work and interviews with award-winning authors.

It’s not so surprising that 65 percent of the total entries in the database are from the last 50 years,

“Frankenstein sat for 100 years unnoticed, just a monster story,” Sandner said of Shelley’s book, which is considered the first science fiction work and the first book that invites readers to identify with the “monster.”

It was adapted into a play, “Presumption!: or, the Fate of Frankenstein” in 1823 by Richard Brinsley Peake. Other plays were presented throughout the 19th century, eventually leading to Boris Karloff’s iconic film portrayal of the monster in 1931.

But in the 1970s, the novel was transformed from being the monster book that everybody knew about to a classic that is one of the most taught English language works in high schools and universities.

It was read through the lens of feminism, a modern sense of alienation and the onrush of technology, Sandner said.

“The industrial revolution has gotten going in her time, and she is looking at that coming and seeking to reframe who we are as human beings,” he said. … “We are still doing that, wondering about the internet, wondering about AI.”

It also speaks to the responsibility the creator has over their creation, Prestinary said.

“One of the main problems with Frankenstein is that he abandons the creature as soon as he sees him,” she said. “He didn’t do the right thing.”

Jesse Pak, a student in Cramp’s Portfolio Building class, focused on the classic Frankenstein film when he was looking for ideas for his digital painting “Bringing Back the Goods,” which is part of the exhibit.

“That was the first thing that popped into my head,” said Pak, 28, an illustration major in the M.F.A. program. “The doctor with Igor and going to the graveyard and bringing the body parts.”

He said he tried to express the creepy feeling of the scene — of Dr. Frankenstein returning to the castle with what he needs to build his creature — through the details of the building, lightning flashes and uses of color and brush strokes.

Pak wanted the title to contrast with the actual painting.

“It’s a funny name.” he said. ” A casual way to say he was coming back to the lab to do his thing.”

One of the best things about the Frankenstein Meme project, say the three collaborators, is that the students have worked on a real-world project that lives on the internet.

“If someone in the future talks about the influence of Frankenstein on literature and can list 50 or 100 works by getting them off the database, then this would have been a success,” Sandner said. “They wouldn’t have to credit it, I’ll just know.”

Frankenstein Meme

3 p.m. Patrons of the Library Talk: “The Frankenstein Meme Project and the 200th Anniversary of the Publication of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’” by David Sandner

5 p.m. The Creative Writing Club hosts a student-focused writing workshop led by alumni Tim Powers and James Blaylock.

Tuesday, Oct. 30

5 p.m. Rebecca Sheehan, associate professor of cinema and television arts, hosts a screening of the 1931 film classic “Frankenstein” and lectures on the figure of the “double” — an image or manifestation of the self.

Wednesday, Oct. 31

9 a.m. Frankenreads: As part of an international initiative, faculty, staff and other guests will take turns doing 15-minute readings of “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus” until its completion.